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Caves, Clefts, and Kidnappings
Aquantis Centuries ago, massive climate change submerged this moon's continents. Aquantis is now covered by a vast lunar ocean, with a few islands left that were once mountains. The moon's surface is subject to nearly constant rain, and the relatively thick atmosphere is a lightshow of savage storms and lightning bursts. Previously on THE TRANSFORMERS It is the year 2034. The Heroic Autobots stormed a Decepticon research facility on the watery moon of Aquantis, only to be tricked into burying the underwater Myr city of Torrid under tons of irradiated rubble. With recovery and rescue efforts under way, the angry and gential obsessed Myr God King known as The Third, leader of a different city, has demanded that the Autobots locate the missing Second, young leader of Torrid who vanished during the disaster. Meanwhile, Socket befriends a Myr healer named Gil, and she, Blades, and Blaster help a Royal Crab deliver its babies. It's super gross. Now The Autobots, joined by Torrid police chief Marin investigate The Second's emergency bunker within the domed city, where he was last spotted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-f__yobALo The emergency bunker, built out of the same ornate but powerful coral material used in the construction of most of the city, is large, well decorated, and big enough for a Transformer to stand in, because this is their show. The dcor is fit for a God King, with the only real problem being that the God King and his bodyguards are nowhere to be found. Marin, a large well built Myr Man, tightens his grip around his trident, glaring at Torque and Spindrift. "This is the where I sent my Prince when you perverts brought the sky of the dry hell crumbling on my city. Now he is gone." He eyes Carly. "You are not made of disgusting bad touch metal, yet you have not gills and scales. Are you sent here by some Old God to test us in our time of trial?" Torque pretty much had no choice but to look for the Second after promising the Third she'd help, though it isn't like she'd back down in the first place. Either way she makes the trip to the bunker with the others. It's nice, but the lack of a Prince is troubling, Torque frowning and rubbing the back of her head while looking around. "It's strange. If he was sent here, why wouldn't he be here now? There has to be a reason for him leaving." Carly isn't wearing her exosuit, because obviously nothing at al can go wrong, and if it did, well, she's there to be rescued! It's pretty cold in the bunker, so she has her large coat on, hands in her pockets as she stares at the massive structure, feeling quite small. She used to think that Transformers were giant, but it turns out in galactic terms that humans are tiny. It's a humbling thought. She cranes her neck up at the tall alien creature, glad that there are some friendly faces about, just in case! "I've not been sent by any god, unless you consider Marissa Fairbourne a god." (She's not). "I'm from Earth, and just here to help out as all members of the galaxy should help each other in their times of need!" Spindrift is mostly here because they might need someone to 1) dig, or 2) need his forcefield. Looking for hints isn't really his thing, so he's mostly just sitting here until someone needs him to do something. So for the moment he's just kinda nosing around. "This place is pretty clean for having lost a prince or whatever from." Marin scowls at Carly. "Creature of Fairbourne, I hear your words- and they would be Morp, except for the perverted company you keep." He looks around the throne room esque bunker with a sigh as Torque thinks out loud. "There was no reason for him to leave, She Whose Gentials are Promised to the Third. For that matter, no way for him to leave. The bunker is locked from the outside. Only I, Marin, Guardian of the City of Torrid, have the key..." He gives a sideways look to Spindrift. "Mind your capitalization when referring to my Prince, metal land crab." Carly start to wander around the bunker, peering at the various ornate decorations, though not really sure what she should be looking for. "So this... prince? You think he was kidnapped? Or if it is locked from the outside, perhaps he is still in here, hidden in some sort of secret compartment?" She hesitantly prods at the nearest knob of coral, in case it is some sort of lever. Spindrift just sighs and shakes his head a bit instead of bothering to correct Marin for the umpteenth time about what creature he's modeled after or that you can't really tell punctuation via vocals. This aquatic people were odd. Though Carly may be onto something about secret compartments. Not like they have much else to go on. So he trundles over to a wall and knocks at it lightly with a forepaw. Torque winces inwardly at that reminder. Seriously, the Third's gonna be disappointed when he finds nothing on her. But that's to be worried about later, should it ever happen, Torque instead nodding to Carly. "That's possible. Let's have a look around then. Check under and behind furniture, search the walls, or even the floor. If the only visible way out was locked, then there's gotta be another." With that said she steps further into the room, first moving to the throne to check around it and maybe get a peek behind. Carly pulls on a piece of coral, which breaks off of the wall she was pulling on. Marin gasps. "That work of art was a gift from The First! Pick it up immediately!" The coral rolls behind a large sofa made of shells, directly on top of an oddly colored piece of the floor. The floor of the room is made of a substance comparable to marble, bright white, however this large square is mostly...well, off white. Carly pulls a guilty face. It's not always a good idea to go around vandalising alien works of art, and coral is a vital part of the ecosystem! "Sorry!" she calls back, chasing the coral behind the sofa. She probably has some super glue in her pockets. She pauses, looking at the off-colour tile, prodding it with her foot. Spindrift's optics flicker as the coral rolls away from the wall. "Um, oops? Here, lemme help Carly." He turns and trods over to nudge his head under one end of the couch and lift it up so Carly has room to get behind it and catch the runaway coral. Hrm, nothing there. Lips skew in thought as Torque stands upright from trying to look under the throne, the femme rubbing at her chin a little until Carly goes about breaking stuff and chases after the piece with Spindrift. "You two find anything yet? I've got nothing on this side of the room." A raise of a brow to them both while stepping over. Doubtful they need help, but you never know. Through the power of TEAMWORK, the trio has discovered a crudely cut trap door in the marble floor. Marin's side flobbers start to shake and bristle in anger. "What...what is this?" He pushes on the trapdoor alonside Carly to no avail. "Blast...Giant pervert, are your massive hands strong or merely absurdly large?" He sighs, shaking his head. "If only your currently worthless metal land crab friend specialized in digging, we could get to the bottom of this...TREACHERY." Carly looks at the trapdoor, tracing her hands along the sides of it. "There's got to be some sort of lever, that controls a counterweight. It's not necessarily treachery, it might be an escape passage where your prince could be safely hiding." She looks about for anything obvious to tug at. "Can anyone scan any sort of controls?" "For one, I ain't no crab." Spindrift moves the couch to the side and sets it down, then turns back to the trapdoor. "For two." Pause. "Actually, digging it out wouldn't be good unless it got necessary. However." The dillo-bot tries to shove his claws into one of the edges and just pry it open instead of breaking it in. Torque looms over the others to get a look at this trap door that Carly discoered, antennas flicking up and a smile lighting her face. "Nice one, Carly. Knew there wasn't just one way outta here." Marin gets a look when he mentions the size of her hands, but smiles nonetheless and balls a fist, "Stronger than you know. And no need, Carly, we got this." Torque takes a knee beside Spindrift, chuckoing softly at the tape, "Ah, just humor him." Once he gets his claws in and opens it wide enough for her to get a hold, Torque hooks her fingers in and uses her strength to help wrench it open the rest of the way in a big pull. "Don't break it if you can help it!" Carly squeaks in alarm. "That's their cultural heritage!" The door pulls up and out, revealing a tunnel leading into the damp rock of the ocean floor! Marin's eyes go wide as he leans in, a light suddenly glowing from his trident to brighten the darkness. "This door- and this tunnel, for that matter...shouldn't be here. Do you see how the rock is hewn and not smoothed by the ocean's relentless blessing?" He looks up at the trio. "This... is myr-made tunnel." "Now we're gettin' somewhere." Spindrift pops open a panel in his forehead, which reveals to be a headlamp similar to a miner's. "Only thing now is to see where it goes." With the light on he clambors down into the revealed tunnel. Carly nods, pulling a torch from one of her pockets, and a gun from the other. You never know what's in dark tunnels. Don't worry, the gun is filled with 'peace bullets'. Well, it's not loaded at all actually. She leaps down into the tunnel without hesitation after Spindrift. Victory! Or, at least somewhat of a victory, Marin's news a bit troubling. "So he escaped on his own? But why...?" She looks back to the tunnel and frowns a little, doubly so when Carly and Spindrift go down. "Er.. You guys go on ahead, this may be a bit of a squeeze for me." While the two go on she does her best to fit in the tunnel, which is Myr size, who are smaller than her. Good thing she isn't claustrophobic. Torque totally did that, by the way. Thanks to the glory of underage Korean animation, Torque fits into the tunnel with the rest of the gang fairly easily. Marin leads the way, a grim look on his face. "None of you are permitted to look at my gludial cleft while standing behind me." He mutters, trying to remember social protocol while drowning in concern for the Prince. After a few minutes of walking deeper into the cave, he stops suddenly. "What the..." Kneeling down, the light from his trident reveals a pool of dark liquid, trailing forward. "Crab blood." He looks back. "It was not the Second's decision to come here...I fear he was taken by violent perverts." He stands, and points his trident at Carly. "Because the large handed one has shared a Morp Fish with The Third, I will not kill you all for suspicion of kidnapping. But if we do not find him...." Words fail him... Marin actual trembles. "We... we have to find him." Carly averts her eyes from Marin's gludial cleft. She's not actually sure what one of those is, so she averts her eyes from him completely as they walk. Kneeling by the blood, she dips a finger in to it to see how fresh it is, looking up at Marin and suddenly hoping that isn't some sort of criminal offense. "Don't worry, we'll find him. That's what we're good at." <'Autobot'> Carly Witwicky says, "Does anyone know what a gludial cleft is?" <'Autobot'> Socket says, "That would be the thing that separates one butt cheek from another." Spindrift doesn't even know what a gludial cleft is, so there. Hidden tunnel, missing prince, blood, don't need to be a genius to add that up. "Then all the more reason to find 'im down here and give whoever dragged him out a good whallopin'." The dillo keeps trudging down the tunnel. "Longer we wait, less time he's possibly got guys. Get the actuators outta yer tailgates and getta move on." <'Autobot'> Socket says, "In colloquial terms." Torque takes up the rear of the group, and speaking of rear she can't rightly see Marin's anyway what with the others in the way, so he has nothing to worry about from her. Besides, she's too interested in the walls of the tunnel while idly listening to the others. "You mentioned this as Myr made.. If the Second didn't give his way out, why would anyone dig their way in? Who would want to take him?" She thought all the Myrs loved their God Kings, but that's starting to look less likely the further they go on, and the crab blood doesn't help ease her worries. She nods to Spindrift though and continues on behind them, "Right." Marin stares at Carly for a long moment, trying to calm himself down. Finally, collected, he nods. "You...you are right, beautiful organic land pervert. We will find him." He stands, shaking his head at Torque. "I know not why The Second would be taken. He is a perfect child of the blessed ocean...but I agree with the small talking dig crab- when we find who has taken my Second, we will whallop them, which I assume is some violent and perverted act." He marches forward, into the darkness. Somewhere between feeling emotions towards Carly and talking to Torque, Marin notes that the blood has started to congeal...He would time it shortly after the the actual island collapse that buried the city. Carly wipes the blood off her finger with a tissue and carefully places it onto the ground, and then unsure quite of the most respectful way to finish, makes a quick sign of the cross. She hopes that isn't some sort of horrible insult either. "It's been here a while, we should probably get a move on, who knows what we'll find!" She starts to move off into the darkness with Marin. "Very much so," Spindrift replies as he goes along, turning his head from side to side on occasion to shine his headlamp on every nook and cranny possible. Wouldn't want to run into any surprise intersections and get ambushed from the side. The tunnel suddenly opens into a large cavern. It's honestly pretty beautiful, carved out by the ocean at somepoint and glowing in weird glowing blues and greens...pools dot the ground...but so do a number dead giant crabs and Myr soldiers, dressed in uniforms similiar to Marin's. Marin gasps. "What...what is this?" Carly runs over to the nearest body and checks it over. Does !heal work on aliens? Maybe, but not dead ones. "What happened?" she mutters. "Did the crabs kill everyone? Or something else?" Spindrift practically skids to a stop at the sight, his optics widening. ".. Okay, this is just several levels of wrong." He looks back to the others. "And it ain't all that pretty either." Once the others are out Torque is able to see the macabre scene, optics wide in shock. "What in the pit happened here..?" She stands stiffly and looks to the group, "Stay sharp, in case whoever did this is still around." With caution she stalks ahead to scope out the corpses like Carly is doing, taking care while overlooking on of the soldiers for specific wounds. "This doesn't make sense... Marin, do you know any of these Myrs?" She certainly noticed the similar clothing and looks over to him curiously. Marin kneels next to the body of one of the fallen, and looks up at Torque with a nod. "I know all of these Myr. They are The Second's Honor Guard. These crabs were their Bound Steeds, as your allies Blades and Blaster are now Bound to crabs." He keeps a tough face on, though he's clearly having a hard time keeping things together. Carly gently pats Marin on the shoulder as he kneels, and then hopes that doing so isn't some horrible fish-crime. "Don't worry, we'll find who did this. Is your Prince... amongst the dead?" "Looks like someone or something took advantage of the chaos to drag 'em all down here and make sure they -stay- here. F'ever." Spindrift grunts in disgust, then quiets when Carly asks a very important question. The entire Honor Guard? What a mess... Torque frowns some at Marin beside her. He may keep a hard look on his face, but she's been around enough tough mechs to know there's something going on deeper down. The Myr gets a reassuring squeeze to the other shoulder Carly isn't patting and the medic stands. She's curious if the Prince is here as well, but speaks up anyway, her voice determined, "If he isn't then we'll keep looking. We'll find your Second." "The Second IS NOT among the dead, Fleshy Land Pervert!" A booming voice from the entrance of the cavern! It's THE THIRD, with a squad of Honor Guards whose colors match his own. "Though this will not spare the traitor Marin, who has clearly conspired with the Myr he commanded to kidnap the glorious God Prince of Torrid!" Marin stands. "I would never!" "SILENCE!" The Third booms. "You are clearly a pervert of the lowest order, Marin! The slowest of Dumph turtles would not lie down with you! I name you God-napper and Hope Stealer! Guards! SIEZE HIM!" The honor guard storms forward and drags Marin from the group, cuffing him. The Third strides down, pointing his obnoxiously oversized trident at Torque. "As for you, Genitals Who Are Mine, you WILL find The Second...Or all the Morp Fish on Aquantis will not save you!" Spindrift frowns at this turn of events. "Uuuh." But then the moment is come and gone by the time he gets far enough into realizing what just happened. Which leaves him scratching his head with a claw. "I still ain't got no idea what these guys are saying half the time." Carly turns in shock and surprise at the fish king who enters. "That's hardly true, is it?" she shouts back up at the Third as Marin is taken away. "Given that they're all dead, or do you think they killed themselves?" She decides to not push any further, as she thinks it's slightly suspicious that the Third turned up so quickly. It's probably Compton Xabat in disguise. Torque is just about to ask if there's another tunnel leading into this cavern, since they had to get in to dig into the bunker in the first place, when lo and behold the Third appears! Torque straightens, surprised and turns to stare him down as Marin is seized. Fists ball up, but she tries to remain calm and addresses the Third with a faint glare. "I don't believe Marin could have done this." She argues with a grimace, eyeing the trident waggled at her. She's tempted to smack it away, but doesn't. "...But I see you won't listen until I find your Second." The femme doesn't like this, not at all, and the Third's appearance is fishy, no pun intended, in itself. "..How did you get in here, anyway?" She questions, eyeing him scrutinously. "I know the work of an Elite Honor Guardsman when I see it, human pervert! I merely had to follow your party here to see the truth with my own eyes! He waves the trident around. "Guards, take this traitor to Ikan to await trial! WE WILL HAVE JUSTICE!" NEXT TIME ON TRANSFORMERS Did Marin kidnap The Second? Is the Third City of Ikan just as weird as Torrid? Can the Transformers find out the truth? Is anyone's genitals safe on Aquantis? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYbVXRvz-Eo